National news

Storm wallops mid-Atlantic with 2 feet of snow

'Snowmageddon' around Washington halts travel, cuts power

By

ChristopherHinton

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The biggest winter storm in close to 90 years walloped the mid-Atlantic states Saturday, shutting down Washington, D.C., and burying the region in power outages, flight cancellations and miserable driving conditions.

In northern Virginia, two people were killed when they were struck by a truck as they helped a motorist stuck in the snow. On the state's transportation Twitter page, accidents and disabled vehicles were being reported every few minutes.

Some 2 feet of snow had already fallen in some areas by midafternoon, and snow continued to pile up across northern Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New York and southern New Jersey, according to AccuWeather.

The heaviest snowfalls were predicted to taper off by the evening in most areas, but howling winds and drifting likely will make travel difficult through the night, the weather service said.

Below-freezing temperatures were being reported as far south as Richmond, Va., and could stretch to Columbia, S.C., overnight.

Saturday's storm could be the largest since the 1922 Knickerbocker storm that dropped 28 inches of snow across the mid-Atlantic region and up to 33 inches in some areas around the capital city. The storm got its name from Washington's Knickerbocker Theater, whose roof collapsed on Jan. 28, 1922, under the weight of the snow, killing 98 moviegoers and injuring 133, according to the Washington Weather Book Web site.

Braving the blizzard to give a speech before the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, President Barack Obama referred to the storm as "snowmageddon."

Throughout the day Saturday, air travel was snarled. Reagan International and Dulles airports near Washington, D.C., canceled all flights. There were also cancellations at Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore airports.

Philadelphia International said it expected nearly all of its Saturday flights to be canceled, reporting that crews had been working against whiteout conditions to clear runways, the Associated Press reported.

Typical delays were being reported for New York's LaGuardia and Kennedy airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Though Brooklyn and Staten Island had been hit by several inches of snow, New York City's other boroughs, Manhattan, Queens and Harlem, have so far been spared.

State governments pleaded for residents to stay off the roads except in cases of emergency. Along the New Jersey shoreline, which was expected to see blizzard conditions throughout the day, local government banned all personal driving except for emergencies, CNN reported.

The entire state of New Jersey was under an extreme-weather advisory, with N.J. Transit suspending most bus service and reducing train service until further notice.

"We urge residents to avoid driving except for the most urgent reasons," said Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. "If drivers stay off the roads it will help the dedicated state and local highway crews clear the roads in a safe and efficient manner."

Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware were under states of emergency, with National Guard units on standby to help if needed.

The New Jersey-New York Port Authority pulled in extra manpower to keep tunnels and bridges clear.

Virginia's Web site reported about 185,000 people in northern Virginias were without power. And some 160,000 people were without power in Pennsylvania, according to its online site.

"Snowfall totals across Pennsylvania range from about 6 to as much as 30 inches," said Gov. Ed Rendell.

Power company Pepco said south Maryland was experiencing "significant" power outages.

The Virginia Department of Transportation said it was still cleaning up from two winter storms in the past week, and had spent some $79 million on snow removal this year and has now tapped a $25 million emergency reserve fund.

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